Mark Zuckerberg is getting serious about adding new "friends" in Africa.
The Facebook founder visited Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time on
Tuesday, touching down in Lagos, Nigeria. He met with local businesses
and developers in an effort to understand how Facebook (FB, Tech30)
could "better support tech development and entrepreneurship across
Africa," the company said in a statement.
His visit included a trip to a Yaba, known as the Silicon Valley of
Nigeria, where he toured a coding camp for kids and met with about 50
local startup founders and developers at CcHub, a local innovation
center.
Zuckerberg told CNN: "There's so much energy and so much potential here. I just want to walk around and meet folks."
As Zuckerberg walked down the street, he drew loud cheers from passersby.
Zuckerberg has been increasingly involved in African initiatives this year.
In June, his foundation -- the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative -- made a
multi-million dollar investment in Andela, a two-year-old startup that
trains African software developers and gives them full-time roles at
international companies. Andela works out of headquarters in Lagos and
Nairobi, Kenya -- so Zuck paid a visit to the Lagos office too.
Andela's director Seni Sulyman said it was a thrill to welcome Zuckerberg.
"Mark's visit demonstrates to all Nigerian developers and entrepreneurs
that they've caught the attention of the tech world, and they are
capable of succeeding on a truly global level," Sulyman said in a
written statement.
Although several Nigerians have also expressed displeasure in the way
CNN referred to Nigeria in its headline as "sub Saharan Africa".
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